Holy Long Chapter Batman! This is a big alliance, plus I was supposed to write something for Cain and forgot. So he didn't randomly come back fromt the dead... though that wouldn't be so random in this universe.

Cain Pander- District Five male

This time, it wouldn't be dodgeball and trivia games. It would be hunting and fighting and killing, so that was what I was practicing.

"Hey, Cain." I hadn't even heard Nash come up. I set down the mannequin I was gutting and turned to him. "Wow, you're really going at it. We're going to be super safe."

"What are you talking about?"

"What? What do you mean? We're allies," Nash said. The confused trepidation in his face almost made me pity him.

"We were allies," I said. "Those days are over."

"Why?" Nash asked. "Did I do something?"

"It's nothing you did. It's something you can never be. You'll never be anything but a load. We're all in this for ourselves. I just finally realized that."

"You don't mean that," Nash said. He was smiling nervously, and his eyes shone. "Why are you kidding like this?"

"Leave me alone. I'm trying to train," I said. Nash turned and ran away, and I went back to trying to stay alive.

Tatsuya Hikaru- District Three male

"Did you know your sister is missing?"

My sister was missing. How could I concentrate on the Games when my baby sister was missing? Where was she? Was she okay? I knew what kind of people lived in her world. Nothing was free there. Everyone had an agenda and everyone wanted their piece. Miyuji was smart and she could take care of herself, but I didn't want her to take care of herself. I wanted her to be at home, as safe as I wasn't.

"You have to find her," I begged Acee. I'd been pestering her ever since I stepped off the stage. She'd seen me coming and just braced herself. She didn't even try to weasel out of it. I knew people, and she was a bad liar.

"I've been trying," she said. "The kid's smart. I don't know where she is. I know how to make things. I don't know how to find people."

"Hire someone. Hire everyone," I said. "I'll pay you back when I win."

"'When' you win," Acee mused. "I'm rich, kid. I've got half a dozen flatfeet looking for her. She's a punk girl hiding in a punk underworld. How do you find a shadow in the dark?"

I don't care how hard it is. It can't be impossible. It can't be impossible. I knew her better than anyone else. I was the only one who could find her. If we didn't find her before I died, we'd never find her. I searched my brains, trying just once to think like my sister.

"She'll try to sponsor me." I was suddenly certain. "Watch the sponsors. Can you track them down?" I fixed my eyes on Acee, trying to stare her into agreement.

"Computers aren't my expertise," she said. "Beetee, however, can do anything. I can't guarantee we'll find her, but all of Three has your back."

Shinju Matsushita- District Three female

You have to. You owe it to her. You've been a monster your whole life. Act like a human for once.

It seemed insurmountable. How do you come back from something like this?

She wouldn't even believe me. I wouldn't believe me. No matter what, I definitely couldn't go right up to her. I already scared her enough. I needed an intermediary, and I knew exactly who to ask.

"I want to make things right with Ally," I said to Lyte. "Can you help me?"

"Yeah, definitely," he said. "Like, you want to talk to her?"

"I want to talk to her, but she's probably terrified of me. There is nothing I can say to make her feel safe. Everyone knows how nice you are. Can you tell her I want to talk to her and tell her sorry I am?"

I waited in my room with a weight in the pit of my stomach until Lyte came back. When I heard him at the door, I threw it open in fear and anticipation. Then I gasped and backed into the corner of the room, because Ally was with him.

"What's the deal?" she demanded, sticking her finger out at me. I pressed myself into the wall, trying to look like less of a threat. "Do you think you can just make everything right? Why do you even care? You're a monster."

"I can't make it better," I said, and Ally hesitated. "I can't ask you to forgive me. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I was a monster, and that will always be in my past. I wanted to talk to you so I could tell you that I'm not anymore. It doesn't fix what I did, but it means you don't have to be scared of me this time."

"What changed?" Ally asked, and she actually seemed interested.

"I was a bitter, hurting girl who pushed it at everyone else because that was easier than changing. Someone finally showed me that you can't stop hurting by making someone else hurt."

Jasmine Ashenvale- District Seven female

Amphilia wouldn't want to ally with me again. The pickings were different this time. There were plenty of people stronger and better than me. We'd done all we could for each other. We never tried to make anything more of it. Some people made friends in the Arena. Tillo even fell in love. Nothing good ever came of those things. Neither Amphilia nor I wanted any part of them.

My new alliance was just as strong, in different ways. We had our brainiacs, our sponsor charmers, our morale boosters, and our... mascot.

"You have a spirit animal, right?" Tatiana asked.

"Yes, a bear," I said. If she asked, I might tell about my tattoo. Or I might not. It was a very private and meaningful part of me.

"That's kind of like me. I have a wolf's soul," Tatiana said.

My first thought was something along the lines of oh, blow it out your ear. But that wasn't nice. Maybe I wasn't sure she really understood spirit animals, but who died and made me gatekeeper of totems? She had as much right to think I didn't understand spirit animals. Even if she wasn't part of a tribe, that didn't bar her from accessing her spirit. We all had our own paths, and I couldn't tell her that hers wasn't valid.

"How did you know you were a wolf?" I asked. My own people had a long and involved process to identify and commune with your guide. Tatiana had to figure it out all on her own.

"When you look into a mirror, you know right away it's you, right? It's obvious you're looking at yourself. The first time I saw a wolf, it was a mirror. I knew I was seeing myself," she said.

That's pretty much it, isn't it? My own journey was different, but we were all looking for the same things. And I didn't begrudge Tatiana her identity and guidance. We all needed that.

Desiree Redwood- District Seven male

Electra was gone. I'd lost her before, but never like this. There was no time to prepare. I didn't even know what had happened at first. It started, and people were dying all around me. Once the dust started to settle, the survivors started to ask questions.

"What happened? Why are we left?"

"It's the scores," Velvet said from across the table in the cafeteria. "All the dead ones had low scores."

My blood turned to water. Electra's score...

She'd only left for a few minutes. She'd gone to fetch something from her room. I didn't even look up when she left. That was going to be the last time I ever saw her.

Somewhere in the hall, one of those headless bodies was her. She was walking to her room, and at some point, she was done. I'd walked past the spot before. Some plain, unassuming spot in that hall was where Electra's death was waiting, and I never even knew it. I would walk by it again before the Games began. Would I feel her ghost?

I could have gone out there and found her. In all the chaos, it would take an hour to clean up all the bodies. I didn't want to see it. Headless bodies were all around me, and they were empty vessels. Her body was out there, nothing but a oozing pulp where the head was. The head was all that mattered. The eyes were the window to the soul, and Electra's eyes were gone. The mind that made her who she was was in pieces. Everything that mattered about Electra was destroyed. I couldn't bear to see the remainder. It was nothing but a mocking reminder of what was.

Sammy Voltage- District Five female

Dear Camellia,

I hear you're still alive! I'm very glad to hear that. Did you have a cool funeral for me? You better have cried, like, a lot. Who voted for me, anyway? I know it wasn't you. It wasn't Potato... who even votes for someone like me? I didn't do anything. I minded my own business and played ball.

How are things in Seven? Are you a manager yet? I bet not. No offense, but you're kind of lazy. Not that I should talk. I used to be kind of dead. Did you get any money for not dying? I suppose not. If I win, I'll send lots of presents. If I don't, you better cry a lot again.

Charming's here, even though he didn't die! What do you think of that? Only a Career could be that boneheaded. I don't think he'll win, though. Most Victors aren't boneheaded. Just Jerky, and he's even worse than Charming.

I have a nice big alliance again, which is nice. I miss you, but my new allies are cool. There's Des, Shinju, Tatiana, Jayla, Sparkil, Tatsuya, and Zibby. Des is really tall and looks scary, but she's nice. Shinju used to be a vampire but she's not anymore, so she's cool. Tatiana thinks she's a wolf. I guess if I can be a clone, she can be a wolf. Jayla and Zibby are really smart. Tatsuya's kind of cute. And you already know what Sparkil is like.

Did they air what they did to the people with low scores? If they didn't, they'll probably block out this part, but I'll tell you anyway. They blew up all their heads. I'm honestly still in shock. Tatiana was only .1111 away from dying. When she found out, she threw up. I threw up too, but way before that. I hope they didn't show that part. I never want to see that again.

Anyway, I hope things are good in Seven. Things are as good as they can be here. Hope I see if you again, and if I don't, maybe next time. Remember, you said we're friends forever. That means if I win and you're eighty years old, you still have to be my friend.

See you soon,

Sammy

Zibby Spooly- District Nine female

Cain and Electra were gone just like that. This messed up our plans. More importantly, two people were dead, but I couldn't fix that. All I could change was our plans.

Cain wasn't that important anyway. He was weird and off-putting and I hadn't been sure he wouldn't turn on us anyway. Electra was the real loss. She was smart and creative, and she was Des's best friend. The damage to our morale was just as bad as the damage to our numbers.

How can I make this better, though?It didn't take long to come up with the answer. I couldn't. At least not the morale part. That was best left to Tatsuya and Sammy. I should stick with numbers and experiments.

Speaking of experiments... What should I do next? I hoped this Arena would also have technology, but I wasn't holding my breath. More likely I'd have to make do with somewhat more primitive materials.

But then, maybe having the means to win wasn't everything. Plenty of the people the Capitol just killed were capable of victory. They weren't the front-runners, but they could have done it. It was as much decided by Capitol opinion as any real survival ability. Or maybe they were decided entirely by Capitol opinion. No one who was rebellious got by. I was surprised Peach didn't bite it, too.

So the real survival training wasn't in any of the training room stations. The only thing that would keep me alive was being the Tribute the Capitol most approved on. I never was good at sucking up or being what people wanted me to be. That was the only survival skill, and it was about to be tested.

Tatiana Kokola- District Eleven female

My new pack was wonderful. They were good people. It was strange how such disparate people came together. Des and Electra started it, and it was Electra's idea to add Zibby. Des took a shine to Jasmine, and Zibby brought Tatsuya with her. That was when I joined in. Sammy kind of just showed up somewhere along the line. She was the one who added Shinju.

Hey, everyone. This is Shinju. Can she ally with us? She'd asked.

Pardon if I'm mistaken, but isn't that the vampire? Des had objected.

She used to be. Not anymore, Sammy said.

I don't think that's how it works, Electra had chimed in.

Who would know better than a former vampire? Sammy had said.

So far Shinju hadn't made any trouble. She came to my room once and walked in without formally being invited, so that settled the matter for me. She seemed like a nice enough girl. She must have used up all her evil.

It seemed like a pretty good chance that one of us would win. There were a lot of us, and some of us were pretty strong. Des was more or less our alpha, and she probably had the best chance of us. Wolf packs didn't really have an "alpha" like people thought, but they did still have a leader. Des made it a long way every time she played. One of these days she was bound to win. As for me... well, every dog has her day.

JD Dean- Disrict Three female

Sometimes things turned out funny. Appaloosa killed me pretty quick and lasted half the game, but here I was and here she wasn't. She must not have been popular enough. The people from Twelve usually don't get much love. That's why they only had one Victor.

"The easiest plants to get acid from are, of course, citrus plants. Basic plants are harder to find, but they are there. Honeysuckle and clematis both thrive in alkaline soil. If you see these plants, the water nearby is likely basic. It should be avoided for drinking, but it can be distilled to use its basic properties."

Hardly anyone ever went to the chemistry station. Zibby was more interested in the more flashy applications, but I was looking for some basic, no pun intended, knowledge. I couldn't depend on the Arena to provide things this time, and I couldn't count my sponsors before they hatched. If all I had was plants and rocks, I had to be able to build a computer with them. I scribbled notes on a pad while the instructor went on.

"The gympi-gympi plant has perhaps the most brutal defense mechanism. Its leaves are lined with tiny hypodermic needles full of acid. The slightest brush causes incapacitating pain so severe that sufferers have been known to kill themselves," the instructor said.

Ouch. I think I'll leave that one alone.

Sparkil McLein- District Three female

It was funny how so many Threes ended up in one alliance and how we all had different expertises. I was the coder, Zibby was the mad scientist, Jayla was the chemist, Tatsuya was a random orator, and Electra had been the tech whiz. We were two members down, but we could still do this.

I'd never liked Cain anyway. I saw what he did to Nash. If I'd really had integrity I would have stepped in, but I wanted to live, too. The very thing I hated Cain for was right there inside me. I hated Cain not only for what he did, but for showing me what I was willing to do. Now that he was gone, we could go back to pretending we were good people.

If anyone thought I would use my arm as a weapon, they wouldn't let me take it into the Arena. There were lots of things I could do with the wires and components inside, but I couldn't let anyone know about that. I didn't even really intend to do anything like that. I didn't want to risk my arm. The reward wasn't worth the risk.

There was one thing about a strong alliance that gave me trepidation. Strong allies had a better chance of living longer. That seemed obvious, but the implication was what mattered. Strong allies were strong because they'd done well before. They were both willing and able to kill. That extended to me as much as any other competition. Strong allies could carry you a long way, and when they got near the end, they could walk to the finish line over your body.

I forgot Fable's private session, so I edited the chapter.